Busoni: Doktor Faust - Fischer-Dieskau, Lewis, Boult, LPO (2012)

Busoni’s opera, Doktor Faust is unquestionably one of the experimental operatic masterpieces of the twentieth-century. The composer wrote his own libretto and worked on the composition for nearly two decades, although it remained unfinished on his death in 1924. Doktor Faust was completed the following year by Busoni’s pupil, Philipp Jarnach.

This recording of a 1959 BBC broadcast is of a shortened concert version created by Sir Adrian Boult, in consultation with baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Sir Adrian Boult was Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1950 to 1957. During his tenure he toured Germany and Russia with the Orchestra and made numerous recordings. Prior to this he was the BBC’s Director of Music and Principal Conductor of the newly formed BBC Symphony Orchestra. He conducted at the coronation services in 1937 and 1953, and was knighted for services to music. He died in 1983 aged 93.

A world première recording of this concert performance especially tailored by conductor Sir Adrian Boult in consultation with Fischer-Dieskau.

This archive recording from 1959 features Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - in the form of his life - singing the role of Faust.

The recording will appeal to the legion of loyal followers of Sir Adrian Boult, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Heather Harper.

This previously unreleased material is a rare addition to the catalogue of recordings of this work.

Reviews: Adrian Corleonis, whose knowledge of and enthusiasm for the operas of Ferruccio Busoni is obvious from the reviews he has provided for this journal over the years, wrote a short assessment of this 1959 live performance for Fanfare 35:3. In it he details some of the many cuts made in this recording of Busoni’s last opera, ranging, as he noted, “from a page or three to entire scenes.” Indeed, less than half of the score is presented. The rationale for the cuts made by conductor Adrian Boult in consultation with the Faust of the broadcast, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, is not clear. As presented, it is less a “concert abridgement”—though I have used Corleonis’s designation for indexing consistency—than a set of excerpts, some starting midscene with a quick fade-in. Indeed, some have questioned whether this is really all of the concert as given. The LPO producers probably should have made all this clearer to the potential buyer. This is plainly not an alternative to the note-complete Nagano recording on Erato, which is in release-limbo at the moment, or the cut but substantially complete and highly authoritative Leitner on DG, which is available as a download from that company’s website.

Nonetheless, this is a release of real historical significance. Boult led important British and London premieres of works by Mahler (the Ninth Symphony [1934], Das Lied von der Erde [1942], and the Third [1947]), Schoenberg (Variations for Orchestra [1932] and the Brahms Piano Quartet orchestration [1962]) and Berg (his 1934 Wozzeck was highly praised by the composer), among others. Some of these have found their way to release, along with belated recordings of his excellent Brahms, Schumann, and Wagner. Still, he is pigeonholed as a British-music specialist. While this is undoubtedly where his finest legacy lies, it would be unfair to his memory to overlook his pioneering work in a wide range of contemporary music. In his memoir, Fischer-Dieskau describes him as “this ever-young champion of new music in England,” not least because of his service to this work and composer. Boult first conducted a concert version of Doktor Faust in 1937, it too cut “to bring it into a reasonable concert shape.” This was done with the apparent acquiescence of Busoni’s widow, who attended the performance. He also performed the piano and violin concertos and a number of other scores, and even mounted an all-Busoni concert in 1962. (As Michael Kennedy asks in his biography of Boult, “Which other British conductor would have undertaken it?”) So he was no tyro, having a go at something unfamiliar. He certainly does not strike me, as he did Corleonis, as “haphazard.” To the contrary, emotional currents are as potent and the dramatic flow (given the cuts) as cogent as that of his recorded successors. I’ll go further and suggest that I prefer his dark, brooding approach to Nagano’s in many ways. True, the relatively recessed recording of Boult’s orchestra dampens the intensity that he and his cast generate, but it is there nonetheless, and to these ears the intelligence of the conducting and singing is indisputable.

As for the cast, there is no denying my colleague’s critique of Richard Lewis’s wheedling, sinister Mephistopheles, who, alas, is overtaxed by the role. The other tenors on CD cope better, but both of them were recorded in a studio. The rest of the cast is, however, quite impressive. Corleonis and I are in complete accord regarding the superiority of Heather Harper to her recorded competition, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau all but owned his role from his first performance of Faust four years previously. Detractors who find his singing mannered later in his career will find nothing to complain of here. Moreover, Ian Wallace is a particularly strong Wagner and John Cameron makes the most of what remains of the Duke of Parma’s part. It is a shame that we don’t get to hear them sing all of the opera, though as it is, Lewis probably wouldn’t have made it.

As noted, the monaural sound could be better balanced, though this restoration is clear and pleasant enough otherwise. There are the usual small executional flaws that one would expect in a recording of a single live performance. It is not a good choice for getting to know the opera, given the substantial cuts and, further, the lack of a libretto. It is, however, definitely a release that anyone interested in this opera, composer, conductor, or singers should seek out.